


Aftermath

by Fabrisse



Series: Rebuilding the Table [8]
Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Post V-Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 17:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6249556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin is acting as Arthur.  How he called the meeting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

Merlin stretched his neck and checked the time. He'd gone over the twelve hour straight shift limit he'd set for everyone. It wasn't the first time he'd worked an eighteen hour day in the service of Kingsman, but as the nominal head, however blessedly temporary it might be, he recognized that part of his duty was to set an example. Overwork led to poor decisions.

He left the dining room at the shop and took the shuttle to headquarters. It might be faster to request a taxi for his apartment, but, overworked or not, if a major development bubbled up, he could be apprised more quickly if he used his room at headquarters.

The Lady passed him in the hallway and said, "Christ, Merlin, I'm coming onto my shift. Don't tell me you're just ending yours."

"I… got distracted. I'm going to eat something because I realized on the shuttle that I hadn't done that either, and then I plan to sleep for ten hours."

She stopped him and peered closely. "Do what you must to get that sleep, Merlin. You're looking haggard."

Merlin snorted a half-laugh and said, "I'm glad I wasn't hired for my beauty, then. I promise: sleep, eat, and exercise before I come back on shift. Barring emergencies."

"Then get you going. I have comms, and I assume you've left the assignments."

Merlin just nodded on his way to the canteen.

***  
He only managed to sleep for about eight hours, but running the obstacle course and swimming thirty laps before breakfast had helped his energy level. He shaved closely and found that the tailors had put a new suit in his closet. He decided to wear the hunter green wool with a white shirt and dark brown tie with a subtle gold pattern.

Vivienne looked him over when he arrived and checked her watch. "Twelve hours on the nose. Which, good, especially after that stint you worked yesterday, but, on the other hand, is insufficient rest. You haven't been taking your days off, and yesterday wasn't the first time you missed your quitting time."

"I know. I promise I thought about the poor example I was setting. But, Vivienne, can you really say I was wrong to finish what I started?"

"No, and I know time zones mean that you won't necessarily be taking standard shifts, either. But, Merlin, you're not superhuman."

"Nonsense, I'm a Scot."

Vivienne laughed warmly and said, "Seriously, boss, I think we're finally past the worst. Take the weekend or even just Saturday and don't think about us. We can always grab you if we need you."

Merlin stopped for a minute. Finally, he said, "I'll take it under advisement, lass."

***  
Once back at the shop he stared at a blank screen. It had been nearly three months since V-day and two months since the Kingsman agents had been in a position to begin the diplomatic and other work required to get the world functioning again. 

Percival, Dinadan, and Caradoc had received Merlin’s warning and heeded it. Tristan and Sagramore had assumed… Merlin wasn’t quite certain what, but they’d both ended up caught in the first wave and managed to get themselves sequestered before the second wave hit. Erec and Ywain claimed to have been out of range and received their messages after both waves had passed. 

Beaumains was at Headquarters when Vivienne got the order, so he’d followed it with everyone else. Merlin considered that to be the biggest regret of V-day. Had he known that Beaumains was in the building he could have checked him quickly for tech and had an agent who was not just trained, but _experienced_ with them. Having a second agent might have meant stopping the waves before they started, or at least prevented the second one. Most of all, having Beaumains there might have meant not having to blow the heads off of so many world leaders. Those poor mercenaries of Valentine’s would have been spared, too. How many of them had just been doing the only job they could get hired for, rather than knowing what the big boss was up to?

Tristan and Sagramore reported to the police in their respective jurisdictions and informed them how many people they had killed and where. Voluntary reporting was being used to try to establish how many deaths there’d been. Since they were covered under the worldwide V-day amnesty, nothing more was required of them legally, not even the method of killing, which meant Kingsman was still under the radar. 

Neither Ywain nor Erec admitted to having killed anyone which made Merlin wonder whether they’d had a heads up of some sort from Arthur. It wasn’t like them to be away from their base cities. As their heads hadn’t exploded, Merlin had given them the benefit of the doubt. It was going to be difficult enough reconstituting Kingsman without having to pursue an inquiry against two of the knights. That didn’t mean Merlin wasn’t going to keep closer tabs on them for the next year or so, just in case, but it did mean he wouldn’t share his suspicions with anyone else.

He leaned back and thought about the immediate aftermath. Once they returned to Headquarters, Merlin had dispatched cleaners to take care of Arthur’s body and ordered new rugs where appropriate. He allowed every member of staff to contact their families and knew that his nightmares would be filled with gasps, quiet sobbing, or cries of anguish for years to come. There was barely a person in Kingsman who hadn’t lost a close friend or a relative. He considered himself lucky. His sister had been at home alone. Her kids had been flying home from university and thus had all electronics off, and her husband had sent his secretary home early since they had no more appointments that afternoon. None of them had died; none of them had killed.

Once everyone had arranged leave to take care of their families without leaving Kingsman uncovered, Merlin had made several decisions. The first of which was to send out all the able bodied people who were willing to volunteer to clean up the aftermath. Their cabbies, mechanics, and cleaners -- not the cleaning staff, the _other_ cleaners -- helped identify and transport bodies and dug graves. You couldn’t work for Kingsman and be squeamish. Most of the kitchen staff had set up temporary round-the-clock lunch counters throughout the most devastated parts of the city. Anyone volunteering in the clean up effort was fed for free, and the rest paid only what they could afford. He knew he’d have to justify it in the annual audit, but even the staff accountants had volunteered to help set the world’s economy back up. He thought they’d allow the extra food expenses.

Roxy had gone home to her family estate for three weeks to assist the county’s efforts. Eggsy had been treated by the infirmary staff and then joined them at local clinics and hospitals. He told Merlin later that by the end of the first day, he was setting all the broken limbs that came in as long as they didn’t have other complications.

“Coulda helped bury, I guess, but I killed so many. It feels like I need to help the livin’ now.”

The infirmary staff who worked with him said that he’d been gentle with everyone, really good with the kids who came in, and extremely efficient. 

At the end of the week, Merlin had called him in and sent him to join Caradoc in Rio. The favelas had been badly hit, and Caradoc was there with much of the remaining Brazilian government to begin rebuilding both the city and diplomatic relations. The last thing he’d said to Eggsy before he’d gone to pack was to make certain he brought not just suits, but clothing appropriate to help in their tent clinics. He found out later that Eggsy had gone in and bought out a local Boots for low-level medical supplies like Paracetamol, bandages, splints, and antibiotic cream. He’d also cleaned out their entire inventory of lollipops.

Caradoc’s reports on the talks included separate evaluations of Eggsy. He seemed completely bemused by Eggsy’s ability to communicate without speaking one word of Portuguese and also commended his work ethic. He’d kept the younger man with him as they went the long way around to talk with the interim United States’ government and then the Canadian one.

By the end of two months, he’d let Merlin know that Eggsy could handle Australia on his own while Caradoc worked with New Zealand. Merlin considered that high praise indeed.

He picked up the reports from all of the knights and flipped through them. Finally, he went back to that blank screen and began writing the formal invitation letter to select a new Arthur. He set the meeting for one month out, promised that an agenda would follow, and required that everyone attend in person. Kingsman would soon be back on his feet.

***  
“Merlin, call for you on line two.”

Rory who’d been Arthur’s personal secretary for twenty years had resigned as soon as he’d seen Arthur’s body. Morgana had sent up a cheerful Welsh girl who was experienced enough at Kingsman to be a help, but not so senior in her department as to be essential to its operations. Lily had proven to be a godsend. She never minded doing the minor things, like answering the phone and sorting the correspondence, but she was also a keen analyst who could listen to an idea and point out its weaknesses.

Once he’d finished talking to the Dowager Duchess about the security requirements for the toddler King, the Princess Regent, and the rest of the household, he called Lily in.

“I need to send out the documents required to fulfill the agenda for the first of the two meetings.”

“And?” Lily asked.

“And I need help writing up a background file for Eggsy. His place in the organization should be settled in the first meeting.”

Lily peered over her glasses at him and said, “Why?”

“He’s already completed candidate’s training, but he wasn’t the winning candidate. The last time the table voted on a ‘runner-up’ candidate for a place at the table was in the 60s after an IRA bomb killed an agent just as a class finished up.”

“All right, just follow the same procedure.”

Merlin took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I’m trying to. The problem is that Eggsy’s unexpected. If he’d come in first, any comments would have been directed at Galahad, and it would be too late for his past to create issues. The folders on each knight’s past are shared, but there’s no right of veto.”

“How bad is it?”

“Car theft, burglary -- no robbery though and nothing armed…”

“There’s a difference between burglary and robbery?”

“Robbery is an offense upon a person. He’s never even pickpocketed.” He thought back to Eggsy’s high scores on that unit and added, “At least he was never caught for it.”

“Drug dealing?”

“As best I can tell from both his record and conversations with him, no. He ran drugs between dealers sometimes, but he always refused to sell drugs himself. I know it’s a fine line.”

Lily said, “Considering where he’s from, it’s a line that argues a sense of ethics.”

“That’s right. You were one of his … conquests just doesn’t sound right about Eggsy for some reason.”

“Lovers will do, and, yes, even after the two week amnesty was over, we still got together. I don’t know if I was the only one he continued with.”

Merlin’s eyes went wide. “You were both very discreet. I don’t think anyone’s managed to continue having an unofficial sex life since I became Merlin. Did he tell you that you were his only inamorata?”

“No, and I didn’t ask. I like him. I think he’s a good friend. I also know that you didn’t mention he was a rent boy.”

Merlin sighed. “I was about to, you distracted me with the robbery question. Technically, I don’t have to include it. He was never picked up for soliciting, probably because he was careful and a pretty good traceur, so it’s not in his official police record.”

Lily said, “Ah. And you aren’t required to share it if he never got caught.”

Merlin shrugged. “The sex notebooks are accessible only to me and to Arthur. That’s how I found out. I spoke to him about it after I read the notebook, but I talk to all of them about anything which could be problematic. At least he had no body shame issues.”

“When he told me, he was adamant that it was only to either pay rent or put food on the table.”

“And not since he was a Marine.”

“Yeah,” Lily said. “Include it. Use a phrase like ‘occasional prostitution for necessities on the two bottom levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ and bury it in the paragraph where you’re talking about his secondary school education. Anyone who reads it thoroughly will find it.”

“But how many people read the material thoroughly before a business meeting? You’re canny.”

“Would you like me to draft up the document? You have just over four pages on Ms Morton, so I assume that Eggsy would get something similar?”

Merlin nodded. “Please. If I’d realized you were still close to him, I would have had you write the draft from his autobiographical notes.”

“Anything to take something off your plate, Merlin. Speaking of which, have you gotten a plate of food anytime recent?”

Merlin checked his watch. “No. Not since breakfast. Tell you what, let’s both knock off right now and you can draft Eggsy’s precis on Monday.”

“Thank you, sir. Let me take ten minutes to finish the email I was working on and we can walk out together.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“Not about this. Humor me.”

“Ten minutes.”

***  
Thanks to the clean up, both volunteering in their respective locations and following up on Valentine’s organization, not all of the knights were going to be able to attend the meeting on the date he’d proposed.

Merlin sent out an email asking for available dates, then another asking what could be rescheduled and finally came up with one six weeks out.

This time when he sent the invitations, by email since it was the second go, he attached the relevant documents: the agenda, Roxy’s biography and the snippet from both Arthur’s glasses and his own showing her official acceptance, Eggsy’s biography along with Caradoc’s evaluations, Eggsy’s and Roxy’s reports on V-Day, Eggsy’s reports on his official Kingsman follow-up duties, documentation of Valentine’s plan from his own lair, and Merlin’s own report on his actions on V-Day which ran just over 100 pages. He also requested that each knight circulate their own reports on the follow-up work. He’d made the video feeds -- himself, Eggsy, Roxy -- from V-Day available when he first contacted the agents three months earlier.

The world was settling down to the new normal. Immigration was freer, at least among countries which spoke the same languages, and the loss of so many of the world’s top politicians meant the ones who were left, for the most part, were respected for their integrity.

Without revealing themselves, the Kingsmen had contributed greatly to the cause of re-establishing order in a world gone mad. They were through the worst of the aftermath and finally ready to rebuild.


End file.
